As I begin my reviews of the Cactus League Spring Training Stadiums, we start with the three teams located inside the Tempe/Phoenix city limits. These three teams are within 5 miles of each other which makes it easy to see many games during your stay without requiring a vehicle.

We start with the Stadium in downtown Tempe. If you haven’t been to this stadium yet, you probably never will. This season was the last scheduled season for the stadium to be used by the Oakland A’s since they are moving to a different stadium in 2015. You can feel disappointed but most may call you lucky. I actually enjoy this stadium (but I am also the size of a thirteen year old). It’s quaint, it has some great views, it’s very open, and there really isn’t a bad seat. But it does have some pitfalls. It’s missing newer amenities, the seating is very tight, there are no outfield seats, and there is no shade.

I like the coziness the most about this stadium. It feels like you are sitting on the field with the players. The coziness also allows for a stadium without a bad seat in the house (with the exception of sitting behind one of the light poles). Most of the seats are bleacher style seats which means you are most likely sitting on your neighbor if the game is packed. But I have met a lot of interesting and neat baseball fans while sitting on their laps at Municipal Stadium. We like to play ‘Pass The Cup‘ at games and have had plenty of strangers join in at this stadium.

One of the downsides to this stadium is that there are no outfield or grass seats. That doesn’t mean you can’t get cheap tickets here, but it does mean there is no sun bathing for you or others (male or female, whatever you are in to). No outfield seats leads to a lot of advertising in the outfield but it also opens up the outfield to amazing views of the Arizona mountains and deserts (even though it’s downtown). What also helps with the views at this park are the very open concourses. A lot of the other stadiums have covered concourses or second level seating, but this stadium is completely open with nothing ever blocking the view of the fields (except the light poles… again). But this also has a drawback because even though you can’t sunbath in the outfield, you can bake your knees and shoulders in the hot sun while sitting on the bleachers with no shade.

Also with the older and open design, its easy to find players, GM’s, owners, announcers, etc. I can still remember seeing Billy Beane in is personal box suite directly behind our seats. And if you want an autograph or game ball, make sure you sit further down the left or right field foul lines by the bullpens. They are directly on the field similar to Wrigley which allows you to talk to players and get game balls from them. One of the other benefits of this stadium is that its directly off the light rail public transportation. This allows you to ride to the stadium with a lot of other fans (which may lead to trash talking each other), avoid the hassle of parking (which if I remember, is not fun at this stadium), and you get a ride back to downtown Tempe where you can walk around ASU campus, streets, shops, and bars.

Again, I’m sad to see this stadium taken out of the rotation but if’s time for every team to get a baseball super park.